Adetola Kunle-Hassan, known as Ade Hassan, MBE, (born April 1984) is a British businesswoman who founded

Nubian Skin Nubian Skin is a London-based English lingerie and hosiery brand launched in 2014 by Ade Hassan, specializing in "nude" undergarments for women of colour. History Nubian Skin was established in October 2014 by Ade Hassan, who began working on t ...

in 2014.

Early life

Hassan was born in April 1984. She was raised partly in Nigeria and speaks

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba consti ...

. Both of her parents are in business. She received her advanced education at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

in the United States where she studied English and economics, after which she completed a master's degree at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

Career

Her early career was in the private-equity business but she took a break from that for a year to take sewing and pattern cutting classes. She founded Nubian Skin, which makes underwear in dark tones for women of colour, in 2014 after she was unable to purchase clothing for herself in her preferred colours. In 2014 she was named Fashion Entrepreneur of the Year at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards. In October 2015 Ade's brand, Nubian Skin, was nominated for Hosiery Brand of the Year at the UK Lingerie Awards and won UK's Favourite British Designer of the Year. She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the

2017 Queen's Birthday Honours The 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as pa ...

for services to fashion.

References

1984 births Living people Women business executives Members of the Order of the British Empire Lingerie British businesspeople in retailing English people of Nigerian descent English people of Yoruba descent Duke University Trinity College of Arts and Sciences alumni Alumni of SOAS University of London Yoruba women in business Yoruba fashion designers British fashion designers British women fashion designers {{UK-business-bio-1980s-stub